American Political Parties
The Political Impact of Media Bias
From 1962 to his retirement in 1981, Walter Cronkite led America through such pivotal events as the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal as the anchor on the CBS Evening News. Each night he would sign off his newscast with his signature sign line "And that's the way it is." As a result, he was identified by many opinion polls as the most trusted man in America. However, America's trust in the media has now waned. According to polling information presented by Burns, only 15% of North Americans trusting the media. According to DellaVigna & Kaplan (1188) over 70% of Americans believe that there exists bias in news coverage. Lee (45) defines bias in the news media as "any form of preferential and unbalanced treatment, or favoritism, toward a political or social issue (e.g. pro-choice or pro-life) or political party (Democratic or Republican)."
Morris (709) proposes that when individuals perceive bias in political news reporting, they typically believe that the direction of the bias is counter to their own political beliefs. This is especially true for individuals with extreme partisan ideologies. Lee (47) explains that the more extreme an individual is in terms of ideology and partisanship, the more likely he or she perceives the news media to be biased. Morris (709) adds that strong partisans are more likely to see media bias counter to their own beliefs than independent or weak partisans.
This paper will examine whether or not this bias exists and if so what impact it has on voters. Additionally, it will examine a study of what has been dubbed the "Fox News Effect."
Many studies have been conducted to determine whether or not media bias exists. A study conducted by Abrajano & Singh examined how the issue of immigration was reported differently on English-language and Spanish-language news channels. Their research proposed three hypotheses as to how news organizations report the news. The first of these is the economic theory of news. According to this theory, television news content is geared towards viewers who are most attractive to advertisers. The second theory according to Abrajano & Singh (3) is the audience influence hypothesis theory which predicts that:
(1) Spanish-language news will cover immigration in a more positive and informative manner than will English-language news;
(2) Latinos who only use Spanish-language news may therefore have a greater likelihood of possessing pro-immigrant sentiments than do Latinos who only use English-language news.
The final theory proposed by Abrajano & Singh (3) is the generational status hypothesis, which for this study, expects second and third generation Latinos to favor tougher immigration policies and be less aware of new immigration proposals than would first generation Latinos.
News organizations have to decide how they are going to present an issue. In doing so they may demonstrate bias by how they the frame stories. Abrajano & Singh (4) explain that framing refers to the way an issue is discussed and presented in a news segment. Because news organizations and journalists have to decide how an issue is defined, this may lead to bias.
Abrajano & Singh (4) present several ways in which framing may lead to bias in dealing with immigration issues. One of these is with a "group-centric" perspective. Abrajano & Singh (4) assert that this method of framing is advantageous when an issue or public policy is closely related to a particular group (e.g. crime, welfare, and affirmative action). When frames associate groups with the issue, such as African-Americans and affirmative action or Hispanics and immigration, individuals tend to think about their attitudes towards the particular group, rather than on the actual policy being addressed.
In support of the economic theory hypotheses, Abrajano & Singh (4) assert that English-language news organizations tend to frame immigration in a manner that their target audiences will most likely respond to. As a result, news organizations follow a "crime news script" especially when reporting news stories that feature racial and ethnic minorities. When following these scripts, news organizations typically portray non-whites as the perpetrator rather than the victim. Conversely...
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